


after hours.

by mifan



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Aquariums, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26040661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mifan/pseuds/mifan
Summary: Cai Xukun and Chen Linong go to an after-hours event at the aquarium.
Relationships: Cai Xukun/Chen Linong
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	after hours.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [maps.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24229633) by [mifan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mifan/pseuds/mifan). 



> hey guys and happy monthsary to wenjun cult (or are we wenjun cuties now?) on twitter! in celebration of that here's a tiny fic that still took me way too long to write :') 
> 
> this is a spin-off of my previous nongkun fic but it can be read as just a fluffy standalone, inspired by episode 11 of this season of keep running! leave some feedback if you can please, i wrote this at 2 am and i want it to be better TT

The sky is darkening when Cai Xukun’s car neatly pulls into a parking space outside of the Dachang Aquarium. Chen Linong steps out of the front passenger seat and into the crisp evening air, shivering slightly. 

“Cold?” Xukun asks him as they walk towards the entrance, the car locking with a  _ beep _ behind them. He reaches out with one hand, gently lacing their fingers together. Between the twilight and wide sleeves, it’s hardly noticeable—not that Linong cares if anyone sees, of course. 

Linong has lost count of the number of dates they’ve gone on. His heart should not be beating as quickly as it is. 

“No,” he replies happily. “We’ll be inside soon.” 

Once they are, Xukun presents their pre-purchased tickets to the ticket taker at the door and they’re ushered inside. They buy drink tokens, are asked for identification, and by now Linong can hand over his licence without any nervous fumbling. 

The event itself isn’t exactly what Linong had been expecting, but he hadn’t known what to expect, anyway. He thought, maybe, it would just be like going to an aquarium, except with alcohol involved.

“Not what you were expecting?” Xukun asks him, as if reading his mind. “Pleasant or unpleasant surprise?” 

Linong looks around, observing. There are clusters of people with drinks in their hands milling about an atrium ringed by glowing tanks of colourful fish. It looks very much different from the aquarium in the day, when sunlight streams through the overhead skylights and lights up the water bright blue and casts wavering shadows on the floor. On one end of the atrium, there is a DJ and a few other setting up speakers. 

“Pleasant,” he decides, but not without a slightly pointed look at Xukun. “You like parties a lot, don’t you?” 

Xukun puffs out his cheeks. Linong feels an inexplicable urge to press them back into his face. “What’s not to like about being allowed to drink where you normally aren’t?” 

Linong laughs and lets Xukun lead him into the crowd. 

* * *

There are lights pulsing behind them and music thrumming and Chen Linong’s face is cast in an almost ethereal light by a tank full of luminescent jellyfish. Cai Xukun tilts back what’s left in his glass and sets it down on a nearby table, his headspace consumed by a single thought. 

_ He looks so fucking good _ . 

One would think he  _ knows _ that after they’ve been an official couple for a month, unofficial for longer (although there’s some debate between the two of them as to  _ when _ exactly it all began). 

Well, regardless, let it be known that Cai Xukun knows how to appreciate beauty. 

“Do you wanna go look around?” Linong is asking him, pulling him back to reality, in which Linong is still beautiful, just not kissing him. Xukun blinks a couple of times to show that he’s listening. “I want to see if it’s any different around here at night.” 

Xukun glances at his cell phone. It’s ten; they have an hour before the event ends—plenty of time to take a look at the other exhibits. 

“Okay,” he says, with a lopsided grin for good measure. Linong’s reaction is hard to gauge with the blue tint everything has taken on, but Xukun wants to think that he might be blushing. “Where to?” 

“Anywhere.” 

Then, bolder than he normally is, Linong is the one to grab Xukun’s hand and lead him away from the lights and drinks and other event-goers. The music fades away as they step into a dark passage leading towards the next exhibit. Xukun adjusts the straps of the little penguin backpack he bought from the gift store earlier in the night, despite Linong’s protestations that the thing won’t have a single practical use after the event is over. Xukun had laughed and agreed. 

“It has earmuffs,” he’d said, and that had been that.

The next room is void of any other guests save them. Two large shapes swim up to the glass that covers the entirety of one wall, and as Xukun steps closer to the tank, he can see that they’re two beluga whales. 

“They look like a couple,” he observes, as they swim back and forth along the glass in tandem. He shoots a glance at Linong and announces, “It’s now a double date.” 

Linong stops in his tracks, staring at him as if he’s said something controversial. Xukun shrugs, jokingly defensive. 

“What? We’ve been on those before.” 

“Not with whales.” 

“Okay, fair.” Xukun nudges Linong towards the tank, then rests his chin on his shoulder from behind. For a few beats, the two of them stand there in silence, watching the white shapes in the water. Xukun’s face burns, but it’s a pleasant sort of heat. 

“Hey,” says Linong. 

Xukun’s heart rate picks up slightly as he tilts his head to the side. “What?” 

Linong pauses. His expression is slightly awkward, as if the words are caught in his throat. Then, he asks, a little timidly, “Can I kiss you?”

Xukun can’t stop the grin that spreads across his face. He turns his body so that he and Linong are directly facing one another, and smiles up at the younger boy. 

“Why, I was wondering when you’d ask.” 

* * *

Linong keeps his eyes open when he leans in, nervous and giddy and everything in between. Xukun's eyes, on the other hand, are closed, long lashes fluttering then coming to rest against his skin. 

Their lips brush. Xukun needs to lift his heels up off the ground slightly and wrap his arms around Linong's neck to make things work. Linong's arms encircle Xukun's waist, and he closes his eyes as they kiss  _ for real _ now. 

Xukun tastes like alcohol and citrus. Linong pulls him closer, his knuckles brushing up against the endearingly stupid little penguin backpack behind him, until he can feel his own heartbeat thrumming against Xukun's chest. Xukun's fingers find his hair, carding through the strands that have begun to grow long. Linong's heart threatens to burst out of his chest, but he doesn't move away, determined not to be the one to end it.

So, Xukun is the one to pull away gently for air, sucking in a small breath that would have been inconspicuous if not for Linong's current hypersensitivity to everything the other boy is doing. 

“They're looking at us.” Xukun points to the beluga whales in the tank, the corners of his lips tilted upwards in amusement. “How do you think they feel about PDA?”

Linong's cheeks burn. He can still taste lemon in his mouth. “Whales can't talk.”

What he really wanted to say is that  _ no one saw a thing. _

Xukun just laughs and grabs his hand, lacing their fingers together tightly. “Let's kiss in front of every pair of marine animals we can find.”

Linong shakes the hand held by Xukun, attempting to rid himself of his grip, to no avail. 

Cai Xukun only looks smug as he pulls him towards the next exhibit. 


End file.
